#TBT

Star date June 14, 2012.  Henry Rollins' Bon Jovi mobile in front of SUB at the University of Alberta.

Occupy His Arse

Sorry Henry, we are going to have to disagree on this one.  Now, this this dood is on to something...

Let me add, winters in Canada are reeeeaaaallllllyyyy fucking cold.  Let us see where this occupy business lands in Edmonton come January when its -45 celcius with the windchill.

Drop In The Bucket

How important is water to you?  How much impact does readily accessible clean water and sanitation have on your life?

Food for thought...

He Did Not Forsake Us

(Originally posted on my old blog "The Domestication of a Punk Rock Foodie" on May 22, 2010)


I strongly suggest you get yourself a punk rawk anger shaman who has a wee bit of hippie dippie do to share. Ta Hank. And ta M-Dawg for showing up.

The following is the speech Rollins gave last year at the Sonoma State University commencement, on May 23, 2009. Hank spoke about it last night and I totally ripped it off the SSU site to share with you.

"It is an honor to be in front of you today as we congratulate all of our graduates and welcome their families and friends. My name is Henry Rollins and the fact that I was asked to speak briefly to you all today is one of the highest compliments and most terrifying propositions I have ever had and I only hope my words have some meaning and merit.

"I would like to thank you for going to college. I would like to thank you for taking years of your life and devoting it to study and the pursuit of knowledge. The world is in great need of people who can think, people who value ideas.

"For a moment, think of the person you were before you came here as a freshman or a freshperson if you will, and the person you are now. Of course, there was a large amount of good times, carrying on and engaging in behavior that we need not mention here. It is perhaps why the human brain is allotted such a vast amount of cells, so that it’s not a big problem when a few million fall off the back of the truck. But amidst all the fun and frivolity there were infinitely long stretches of time where you had to hit the books and work and work in order to achieve. There was no one there to tell you to keep at it but you. And you did it, and here you are. You may not need every single course you ever took to get you though life, but the focus and discipline that was required to complete the course will be invaluable tools that you will utilize and that will hopefully benefit you and those around you for the rest of your life.

"Your education and the time you spent here must be more than merely the means to a good job and financial security. Those are certainly important concerns but I am hoping for much more out of you. To come all this way only to become content cogs in a large machine or merely indistinguishable threads in a massive tapestry is not enough. It just isn’t.

"I know you are well aware of what is happening on planet Earth in 2009. Some say that we are in tough times. I believe we are in challenging times that are in need of bold thinking, fresh ideas and new ways of going about old things. This is where you come in. The future greets you today. You are a very big part of what it will be. So, it is incumbent upon you to take all that you have learned and all that you have worked so hard to achieve and do something with it that is more than the gathering of items and the purchase of a place to put it all in. Because at the end of the day, that is a bit of a checked swing, isn’t it? You don’t want to retire into the dull roar that quickly and quietly, do you? I should hope not!

"It is interesting, the excuses people give when they tell me why they don’t read as much as they used to, don’t travel or inquire as much as they did years before. They tell me they got tired, the kids, the job, the drive to work, the grind, not enough hours in the day, they say. When someone would tell the great philosopher Seneca that there wasn’t enough hours in the day, Seneca said that the gods had been quite generous with time allotment but that many people just don’t make good use of it. Not a second of your life will you ever get back. Make every day count, or acquire a taste for regret.

"I don’t understand how a mind that has been enlightened by years of study and immersed in an environment of such frenetic intellectual activity could ever suffer the crushing blow of complacency. I hope that none of you ever suffer this self-inflicted, greatly compromised condition. Not only is it inexcusable, it is boring as hell and no fun at all.

"Your curiosity must never wane! Ever. You are, therefore you want to know, want to go, want to know more and want to go further. As college graduates, you know all too well how much there is to know and the incalculable amount of fascinating things there are to explore, from thought to geographic destination. It is your curiosity that you must enhance, strengthen and value, more and more as the years go on and on. It is your curiosity that you must guard against exhaustion, apathy and that awful plague called middle age. You are allowed occasional but brief vacations from your curiosity, DVD box sets of television shows and carbohydrate rich foods are permitted—but don’t make a career out of it! It is your curiosity that you will pass on like a genetic trait to your children, infect all those around you like a virus and inspire the anger of those who have chosen to admit defeat. One of the greatest and most powerful words in any language is: WHY.

"When you stop wanting to find out, you’re done. There are few things more unendurable than being forced to spend time with someone who is intellectually incurious. This can never be you. Ask a question. Go forth. Arrive at the answer. Catch your breath. Ask Why. And then set off again. Never relent!

"The world is in need of bright minds. Individuals who seek to spread peace and prosperity by the way conduct themselves and the value they place on the lives of others and on life itself. These people, by way of their concern and awareness, whether they know it or not—are leaders.

"You lead through kindness, generosity, tolerance, innovation, the quest for knowledge and a basic, resolved goodness that is incorruptible, inexhaustible and undefeatable.

"You do not lead by intimidation, by economic coercion, overwhelming military might or sanctions.

"Brutality, oppression and the constant threat of violence only results in brutality, oppression and actual violence. The world has more than it needs.

"A member of Ku Klux Klan doesn’t need a frying pan upside the head! He needs an Al Green record and some good books. He needs better information so he can make better decisions and reach better conclusions. He needs to be inspired. You could do that for someone else, you could do that for a lot of people. It might take a lot less and go a lot further than you think.

"If you have noticed, I keep mentioning the people and the world around you. I have been doing this because you are surrounded. You are surrounded by millions of square miles of land, billions of gallons of water and who knows how many cubic feet of air. You share all of these finite and vulnerable resources with millions of people. Everything you do, affects someone else, perhaps more than you realize. I am hoping that you understand that your responsibility to yourself and your well-being must also somehow include the planet on which you live and the people you share it with because like it or not, it does."

On being cynical (from the "Provoked" tour) NSFW

Santa Made It So

Look what was waiting for me when I got home after work today.

It is not some weak ass 6 ounce thing.  No, no, nay, nay.  It is easily 16.


And the angels sang.

Oh Henry

(Originally posted on my old blog "The Domestication of a Punk Rock Foodie" on January 24, 2010)

This week I received another sign that Armageddon is on the way.

Our anger shaman, Henry Rollins, has a girlfriend.

Say whaaa?

First things first, I’m not seeing Edmonton on your tour schedule, and now you publicly admit to being attached and in a committed relationship? WTF, Hank? Clearly, pigs are about to fly and that weasel Garry Bettman is giving Satan his own NHL franchise.

Henry, my friend, I thought we had a deal.

The Rollins Church of Cynicism cannot exist when our jaded leader falls in love. And how the hell am I going to convert others to your pontifications when you and the Bon Jovi Mobile are steering clear of E-Town?

I feel exactly like I did when I found out the Tooth Faerie is a hoax. Cheated and holding a box of manky old teeth. But without the box of teeth.

I swear to gawd, if Lady Gaga gets caught in jeans and a tee shirt, I’m jumping off the roof.

I was also cheated in another way this week. Book number three of the year was supposed to be Salman Rushdie’s The Enchantress of Florence. I am abandoning it. I am on page 184 out of 349 and this story still hasn’t picked up. As a matter of fact, after 184 pages, it’s been a complete snore and somebody really needs to liberate Rushdie’s thesaurus; his writing is excessively wordy and quite frankly, hollow. Oh ya, I went there. I’ve also dropped a couple of Rushdie’s books off my “I Must Read This Before I Die” list. Life is too short and he’s already shaved way too much time off my life with this piece of doo-doo.

I accept part of the blame for this situation. I did pick the book myself after reading stellar reviews and watching it appear all over Best Seller lists. Generally, I am not persuaded by a journalist’s review of a book or Best Seller lists. Opinions are like assholes, everyone has one. And a Best Seller is exactly that, a best seller, and never a clear indication of what the quality of the book is.

Let me take a moment to remind you that Britney Spears is a best selling author.

Ya, that’s right, now you get it.

Literature is subjective, as are all art forms, and I should know better than to allow another person to sway my choice. The last time I picked up a book that people were gushing over was Sara Gruen's Water for Elephants. After four attempts, I still haven’t got past the second chapter of that cure for insomnia.  Just shoot me if I pick up anything by Stephenie Meyer.  Gawd, her writing is shite.

So, after reading The Dalai Lama’s Little Book of Inner Peace by His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, Stuck in Downward Dog by Chantel Simmons, and abandoning The Enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie, I am rounding out the month of January with Cosmic Jackpot: Why Our Universe is Just Right for Life by Paul Davies. I have flipped through it and it promises to be a mind-fuck for sure… leptons and quarks, big bangs and big rips.

This better be good Trev or you owe me $34.95 and your testicles. And don’t think I won’t collect either.

A Letter

Dear Santa:

It is probably too late for me to start being good this year so I'm just going to put this out there...

My anger shaman, Henry Rollins has a new coffee mug out.  It would give me much joy to have that on my desk at work.  Santa, you can order it here.  Henry is kicking in some discounted shipping on international orders so that should help the elves out, no?

Thanks Santa!  I'll be sure to leave the cookies you like and the whiskey the reindeer use for "medicinal" purposes.